Professor Derek Moore

TALBY Project
Predicting language development in babies

Derek Moore images

If you could spot a child who was likely to have speech difficulties when they were only six months old, you could change the course of that child’s life.

This is the motive for the Take a Look at Baby (TALBY) project, one of a number of studies by UEL’s Institute for Research in Child Development (IRCD). TALBY uses cutting-edge eye-tracking technology to predict social, language or attention difficulty at a very young age. Such problems can lead to poor outcomes in later life, and the earlier they are identified the easier it is to help.

IRCD director Professor Derek Moore says: “About ten per cent of children entering school have some sort of language, social or attention difficulty. The issue is whether we can identify these difficulties as early as possible so that something can be done about them.”

“At the moment, there are measures we can take around age two or three, but even this may not be early enough. There are lots of tasks and techniques that have been developed in baby labs around the world that mean you can look at babies’ capacities as young as six months of age.”

One test uses a film of a person speaking, but the soundtrack says ‘ga’ while the image says ‘ba’. The movement of the baby’s eyes is captured using eye-tracking technology. Even six-month old babies can tell the sound and image do not match and will look at the person’s mouth. “ If babies don’t show this looking pattern then this might indicate that they’re already having difficulty predicting speech sounds,” says Moore

There is a progressive element to TALBY as it aims to reach the deprived or at risk children who are most likely to suffer from social, language and attention problems. Instead of expecting families to come to a baby lab, the project uses simple technology which can be taken to children’s centres, where such families are more likely to be found.

“We’re testing the feasibility of predicting outcomes, and of using this sort of approach in children’s centres,” adds Derek. “We’re training the staff in using the equipment, and then we’re going to evaluate how staff and parents engage in it. It doesn’t matter how predictive it is if people find it alienating or impossible to use.”

He adds: “All the evidence is that the earlier you intervene, the better for the children, the more cost-effective it is and the better it is for society. You are more likely to break the cycle of poverty and deprivation that can accompany speech difficulties.”